Blast-furnace



(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1 P. BROWN.

BLAST FURNACE.

N0. 316,233. Patented Apr. Z1, 1885.

ZSheets-Sheet 2.

(N9 Model.

P. BROWN. BLAST lf'URNAOE.

No. 316,233. Patented Apr. 21, 1885.

ATENT Fries.

FAYETTE BROWN, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

BLAST-FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 316,233, dated April21, 1885.

Application filed November 12, 1883. (No model.)

To (ZZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FAYETTE BROWN, of

7 Cleveland, in the county of Ouyahoga and State of Ohio, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Blast-Furnaces; and- I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making partof this application.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements inblast-furnaces, and though more especially designed for use inconnection with a hoisting and top-filling contrivance invented by meand made the sub- I ject of another application filed simultaneouslywith this, either one or all of the features of my said invention may beused in connection with blast-furnaces having any other sort oftop-filling apparatus.

Previous to my present invention it has been customary to have the bellopened and closed by one or another of the operatives or hands usuallyemployed in doing the work of filling in the ores, fuel, 850.,ordinarily dumped by hand at thetop opening of the furnace. This mode ofmanipulating the bell is more or less objectionable on account of theliability of neglect on the part of the hands working at the top of thefurnace, and, furthermore, even if done properly at all times,necessitates the performance of considerable hand labor and the presenceof some one close to the injurious gases andheat which escape more orless from the furnace-top during the filling operation.

I propose by my invention to avoid the necessity for hand labor at thetop of the furnace for the purpose of manipulating the bell, and

at the same time to place the operations completely under the control ofthe engineer or other trustworthy operator, who may be stationed belowand in charge also of the hoisting and top-filling apparatus of thefurnace.

To these ends and objects my invention consists, primarily, in the use,in combination with the lever or beam from one end of which the bell issuspended,aud a compressed-air or other motor for operating said beam,of suitable mechanism within reach of and under the control of theengineer or other attendant stationed below, by means of which saidattendant can at pleasure effect and control the opening and closing ofthe bell, all as will be hereinafter more fully explained.

Previous to my present invention it has been customary to have thefilling in of the furnace to the proper maximum extent regulated by theobservation of some attendant working at the top of the furnace. It isalways desirable and important that the charge in the furnace be kept upto a given standard to insure the best results; but under theheretoforepracticed method, by reason of the liability of neglect orcarelessness on the part of the attendants engaged in arduous work atthe top of the furnace, it has frequently occurred that the charge ofthefurnace has not been always kept in view and properly maintained.Ofttimes the charge,after having been brought up to the maximum point,has been allowed to become unduly reduced before replenishing with freshsupplies of ores. fuel, &c. I propose to overcome these defects in anddisadvantages of the heretofore-employed modes and means in filling andkeeping properly charged the furnace by placing the condition of thefurnace-charge always within the knowledge of the engineer or some othercompetent attendant located below and far away from the labors and theunpleasant surroundings of operatives engaged at or near the top openingof the furnace; and to these ends and objects my invention consists,secondarily, in the employment, in combination with the furnace, of somesort of indicating mechanism or device located at some convenient placeand operated through the medium of the bell (or some other deviceadapted to descend within the top opening of the furnace) which willindicate visually the height of the charge in the furnace, all as willbe h'ereinafter more fully ex plained. I

Heretofore the management of the gassealing doors has been under thecontrol of some one ofthe men engaged in filling in and performing otherlabors at the top of the furnace. These doors should be opened andclosed with a prescribed relationship to the dumping in of the chargesof ore and fuel and with the opening and closing of the bell, in orderthat no unnecessary escape of the heat and gases shall occur; but asheretofore managed and with the means heretofore employed for openingand closing these doors it has not been practicable to have them managedin the best manner. I propose to have the'gas-sealing doors placedperfectly under the control of the engineer or some other trustworthyattendant located below; and to this endand object my inventionconsists, finally, in the use, in connection with the gas-sealing doors,of means by which some one at a distance and conversant at the same timewith the periodical operations of the bell and the furnacechargingcontrivance or devices can perfectly operate the said doors with properrelationship to the filling operations, all as will be hereinafter morefully explained.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention relates tounderstand and practice, either in whole or part, the several featuresof my invention, I will now proceed to more fully describe the latter,referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, and in which I have shown so much of an ordinaryblast-furnace and such of the parts of the mechanism connected therewithas seem to be necessary for the purpose of illustrating the severalfeatures of my invention carried out in. that form in which I have sofar successfully practiced it.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a partial vertical section of ablast'furnace with my improvements applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a sideview or elevation showing only such portions of the whole contrivance asbelong more particularly to the mechanism for operating the gassealingdoors. Fig. 3 is a skeleton back view of the devices seen at Fig. 2, andFig. 4 is a front view of the same.

In the several figures the same part will be found designated by thesame letter of reference.

A is the upper part of the furnace, and B represents the top portion ofthe charge or filling therein. (See Fig. 1.)

At the top of the furnace is the usual top plate or platform, 0, uponwhich is supported the machinery located at the furnace top, and

. from which extends down into the furnace top the usual hopper, D, thelower end of which is opened and closed by the lowering and raising ofan ordinary bell, E, suspended by the rodf, from one end of a lever, G,fulcrumed at a, (in a suitable support, 1),) and formed or provided withasegmentally-shaped weight, 0, at its other end, from which a chain, d,extends downward to the piston-rod e of a cylinder, F, the piston ofwhich is worked, preferably, by compressed air.

9 is the supply and h the exhaust pipe of said cylinder, and '5 is afour-way cook, the turning of which in one way or another admitsthecompressed air to either side for the purpose ofcausing the piston tomove either up or down in cylinder F, to either permit the descent ofthe forward end of lever G and the bell E or to raise them up, asoccasion may require.

From a suitable connection at one side of the lever G, in rear of itspivotal point a, there extends downward a connecting-rodJ, which iscoupled at its lower end to one of the arms, 7c, of a'bell-crank, theother arm, Z, of which is connected to the upper end of a descendingcord or cable, m, that at its lower end is wound round upon a smallpulley or wheel, at, which carries a pointer, 0, that works inconnection with a scale or dial, p, in a manner and for a purpose to bepresently explained.

' The cock t is provided with a lever, r, from which extends ahorizontal connecting-rod, s, which is coupled (at its other end) to thearm t of a rock-shaft that carries a fast pulley, u, and by means ofthese devices an endless cable or cord, I, is made to work the saidvalve by the rotation in one direction or the other of a wheel orpulley, J, over which the lower end of the belt I passes, and which maybe turned by the engineer or other person below, through the medium of acrank-handle,

K, on the upper end of a shaft, L, which at its lower end is providedwith a bevel-pinion,

c, that engages with a bevel-wheel, to, fast on the shaft to which saidpulley J is secured.

M M are the gassealing doors, which when down close and when turnedupwardly open the top opening through which the ore, fuel, &c., has tobe fed into the furnace. These doors are each connected (near theirswinging edges) by a connecting-rod, P, (see Figs. 2 and 3,) with astitfarm, Q, on the rockshaft, one end of which isjournaled in one of thestandards S, and the other in the upper part of the bridge or truss T'of an inclined railway on which runs the carrier (not shown) forcarrying the ore, fuel, &c., to the furnace top opening.

The two rock-shaftsR R are geared or belted together at their rearmostends by sprocketwheels U and an endless crossed chain, 12, so thatwhenever one is turned the other must also rotate, but in an oppositedirection. At the forward end of one of these shafts R' is keyed fasta-bevel-pinion, (seen in dotted lines at y, Fig. 2,) that engages with asimilar pinion, Z, fast on ajournal or spindle, a", (see Fig. 4,)mounted to turn freely in the bracket b and on said spindle is made fasta pulley or chain wheel, 0?, over which passes an endless belt or chain,d". This belt or chain runs beneath guiding anti-friction wheels oridlers arranged, as shown, in two sets beneath the truss T, as seen at eand f and at its lower part said belt (1 passes around the pulley ,faston a-shat't, k on which shaft is also made fast a hand-wheel, 6 by meansof which the engineer or other attendant can turn the said shaft andthus rotate the pulley 9 drive belt d and operate the rock-shafts R R,for the purpose of either opening or closing the doors M M. At Figs. 2and 3 I have shown these doors partially open in full lines and closedin dotted lines.

The hand-wheel i it will be understood, is

\ opening of the furnace;

located down below in the engineers room, or where the attendant whomanages the top filling apparatus can manipulate it.

In practicing my presentinvention I have arranged the whole contrivanceso that the means for operating the bell, the means for operating thesealing-doors, and the means for indicating the condition of the chargein the furnace are all located close together, and where the engineerwho runs the hoisting-engine can see the indicator, and can operate boththe crankhandle K (for working the bell) and the handwheel 1' (foropening and closing the sealingdoors.)

From the foregoing description, together with the drawings, it will beunderstood that the general operation of the whole contrivance shown isabout as follows: The engineer who attends to the hoisting} machineturns the hand-wheel i, and, through the medium of the mechanismconnecting said wheel with the sealing-doors M M, (as alreadyexplained,) opens said doors whenever a charge of elevated ore or fuelis to be dumped into the top After the dumping shall have beencffected,he immediately closes the said doors, and then lowering thebell E by turning the crank-handle K (that is connected by the meansdescribed with the cock 2' of cylinder F) permits the dumped charge todescend into the furnace in about the usual manner. He then turns thecrank-handle K in the reverse direction, thus closing up the bell.

In the operation of the hell, if it descends to the maximum or fullextent of its down ward movement, the pointer 0 of the indicator (seeFig. 1) will go clear round from 1 t0 7, and the attendant, withoutknowing exactly the level or height of the charge B of the furnace, willknow that it is not up to the proper level, and will see to it thatsupplies of ore, fuel, &c.,- are sent up and dumped in. When, however,the contents B reach a level such that the bell will strike and restthereon before having descended to the full extent of its capacity, asindicated by the position of the bell E in dotted lines at Fig. 1, thenthe attendant will know from the fact that the pointer 0 has moved onlyto 5 that the furnaceis nearly full, and will know about how much morematerial, if any, should be supplied; and thus, by attention to theindicator during periodical manipulations of the crankhandle K, theengineer or other attendant located far away from the top of the furnacecan perfectly regulate the charge B in the furnace, and keep it alwaysup to exactly the proper level or standard to produce the best results.

It will be seen that by means of the sets of devices shown and describedfor operating the sealing-doors and the bell,with the sources for theapplication of hand-power to both located in close proximity to eachother and to the indicator and to the appliances for controlling theoperations of the hoisting engine, the engineer or any one person caneasily and perfectly run the whole apparatus; and it will of course beunderstood that in practicing my invention many changes in each of themechanisms shown for the several purposes of working the bell, workingthe sealingdoors, and indicating to the eye of the attendant the exactcondition of the furnace-charge may be made, and that though I have sofar in the practical application of my invention used all of its novelfeatures at the same time, and also together with an improved hoistingand, top filling contrivance likewise controlled by the engineer, anyone or more of the novel features or improvements which I havehereinbefore described may be used by itself with more or lessadvantage. I do not wish,theref0re,to limit my claims of invention toeither the use in one and thesame furnace apparatus of all the featuresof improvement devised by me or to the particular details ofconstruction shown as to any one of said features; but

Having now so fully described my invention that any one skilled in theart can make and use a furnace apparatus (ontaining any one or all ofthe features thereof, in either the pre cise form illustrated or in someother form, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is

1. In combination with the beam or lever from one end of which the bellis suspended, and a compressed-air or other motor for operating saidbeam, all located at the top of the furnace, means, substantially suchas described, located at or near the. base of the furnace by which,through intermediate devices,the bell raising and lowering mechanism maybe controlled from below.

2. In combination with a blast-furnace, an indicator located below,preferably in the engineers room, and intermediate mechanism for causingsaid indicator to register the height of the furnace-charge,substantially as set forth, whereby the engineer or other attendantstationed away from the furnace may be kept informed by visualinspection of said indicator as to the level of the charge in thefurnace.

3. In combination with the gas sealing doors and rock-shafts connectedas described and located at the top of the furnace for opening andclosing said doors, means, substantially such as described, located ator near the base of the furnace by which, through intermediate devices,the attendant below may control the door opening and closing mechanism.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 3d day of November,1883.

FAYETTE BROWN.

In presence of- J AOOB FELBEL, M. H. SMITH.

